Long read: Looking back as Speyside Rotary Club closes after 39 years
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AFTER 39 years of service, Speyside Rotary Club has shut shop.
Final club president Julie Sarab spoke to the Northern Scot to discuss the club's history, its catalogue of good works and its sad ending.
Speaking at her Aberlour home, Julie said: "I was just the second female member of the club when I joined in the 2000s, and the club was founded in 1983.
"Back then, it was mostly a group for older businessmen, but it changed with the times.
"When I joined I found myself asking: 'How would I ever get a group of 80 year-old men as my friends?'
"But they are amazing and it is so great to hang out with people that you just wouldn't normally hang about with.
"This year, we are down to having not that many members, about a dozen, some of whom are honorary members and others who are in their 80s.
"That is why it is closing, you cannot run a club without, at the very least, a president, a vice president, a secretary and a treasurer.
"I feel very sad that it is ending, but I am also very happy that we managed to do so much good over 39 years.
"I don't feel that we are leaving on a low note – a sad note – but not a low note."
The club covered the same catchment area as Speyside High School, including Rothes, Knockando, Carron, Ballindalloch, Marypark, Glenlivet, Tomintoul, Dufftown, Edinvillie, Craigellachie and Aberlour.
Most of Speyside's best-known faces made an appearance at the rotary at one point or another.
Julie said: "There were dozens and dozens of people who came before me who really did great work.
"Of everyone who contributed to the rotary, Charlie Gammack is probably the best well known in Aberlour. He owns the Gammack's store on the high street.
"Also, Tim Dolan, who was our secretary.
"He had a massive part to play in the Whisky Festival and whisky school.
"He was incredibly, incredibly knowledgeable about whisky and used to be a chemist for the distilleries.
"He, without a doubt, deserves a big mention.
"He helped me tremendously when I became president unexpectedly.
"Just a lovely, fascinating man with the best stories.
"Of course, most people have stepped away from the rotary by this point, but there are a few folk who still live in the village.
"Alec Rob, Davey Brown, the old butcher here, and his dad Arthur Brown.
"Arthur is one of our honorary members and came to almost every meeting.
"Gordon Lowe, who is also one of our honorary members, is from Dufftown and came to almost every meeting and works so hard.
"We also have Alan Cairncross who is also still in the village and also still comes to the meetings.
"There was Jeff Highland who is now in the Elgin club too. There are lots of names people would recognise."
Throughout Speyside rotary's history, plenty of community events in the area took shape through hard work from the group – some of which continue to this day.
Julie was particularly proud of the Christmas market, the dog show and the Halloween fright night.
She said: "Even though we will be gone, some of our events will live on as other groups have taken them on.
"Before I joined the club, and since too, we have also managed to fit defibrillators for the community halls in the area.
"Even if it just saved one life, then it is a great thing to be able to do."
The closure of the rotary comes as a result of Julie's personal commitments.
Up until the last meeting earlier this year, she was president and secretary, with no vice chairman and only a treasurer.
She said: "We had quite a lot of deaths and not necessarily the older members either.
"One of which was my vice president, who was in her 50s, which was incredibly sad.
"It took a lot of steam out of everybody's sails and I have stayed president since then, nobody else has been able to step up.
"Then our secretary died so I took that on too.
"I don't have a vice president, but I do have a treasurer, George Brown, who has been treasurer for 15 years.
"He is fabulous and I couldn't have done anything we have done without him.
"I feel incredibly sad and incredibly responsible for it.
"I needed to stop, and I had an awful feeling that nobody else would be able to do it, and they weren't.
"So I feel incredibly guilty that me stepping back is ending the club."
A thread running throughout the history of the club is the good work done for children and families.
Julie said: "We always tried to financially support important groups like Speyside Youth, football clubs, the tennis club and we did a photography competition at the high school for years.
"We had some really amazing photographs which went on to win district and country-wide prizes.
"Also, every year we would send two kids to the Abernethy outdoor centre for a week to do the rotary young leadership awards.
"We had two girls go this year.
"It was always about £500-600 each for the kids and we raised that every year and sent them up."
The impact on children and families was not just limited to the local area, however.
Julie said: "We have helped a lot of overseas charities, we have fed children, we have provided houses for people and we have built schoolrooms and toilets.
"We even put a young girl through university in Cambodia, called Set Raksa, through a Cambodian charity called Akun, who are brilliant, absolutely wonderful.
"Part of rotary's mandate is that you help home and abroad.
"She got excellent grades in her first semester of her fourth year, studying community development at the Royal University of Phnom Penh."
The club's biggest challenge to date came during the Covid pandemic, which cut down the membership numbers of the rotary.
However, Julie said she was deeply proud of the work Speyside rotary did during the pandemic.
She said: "We kept chipping away during Covid but it was hard.
"It really took a bite out of every community organisation.
"During Covid, we still met all the time during Zoom, kept supporting people, and also set up a free library down at the Aberlour Hotel with books, DVDs and everything else.
"We also did a great online whisky tasting with Glenfarclas and we got some grants from Asda.
"The Aberlour Hotel has been great. It has been where we have met for a long time and helped us through the Covid period too."
Despite taking so much pride in the rotary and her longstanding personal connection, Julie is not afraid to encourage locals to join other groups.
She said: "Just because this club is finishing, there are still plenty of other groups who deserve everybody's support within the community.
"If anybody is interested in helping their area, just join one.
"Everybody can find an hour here or there and I wish people would realise the difference they can make by just doing a little thing.
"I would just ask the other groups to thank their volunteers for every single little thing – because nobody does anything if they don't feel valued."
As the club winds up, Julie hopes that, while the group may fade from memory, the help and community events it has provided will continue making a difference.
She said: "Sometimes things like this just slip away and folk go: 'Oh that's a shame.'
"But people don't always say: 'Well, remember what they did? They did all these fun and helpful things.
"I am really sad that we aren't going to be here, because there were quite a few occasions where a small charity would come to us and say: 'We have this specific family who have a need.'
"It might not have been a massive need, maybe it is just an item for £100, or Christmas presents, and we could just do that.
"I really hope the local community councils and other groups will be able to fill for us.
"The majority of the remaining members are still planning on getting together at least once a month to have a meal and just see how we are doing.
"We all became good friends, but it is just not sustainable for such a small organisation to carry on.
"But, I suppose, it is not like a club can't restart in the future. It is possible."
